Investors Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR)

Key Points

• Caesars Entertainment experienced a significant increase in options trading, with 27,675 put options purchased—up 138% compared to its average daily volume.
• The company's stock price fell by 3.7%, trading at $28.33, with a market capitalization of $5.89 billion and a negative earnings per share of ($0.54) for the last quarter.
• Institutional investors have shown increasing interest, with Vontobel Holding Ltd., UMB Bank n.a., and MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB all raising their stakes in the company.

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 27,675 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 138% compared to the typical volume of 11,619 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Caesars Entertainment

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cannell Capital LLC bought a new stake in Caesars Entertainment in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,498,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 803,138 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,840,000 after buying an additional 38,505 shares during the period. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment during the fourth quarter valued at about $504,000. Khrom Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment during the fourth quarter valued at about $16,191,000. Finally, Venator Management LLC increased its position in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Venator Management LLC now owns 404,365 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,514,000 after buying an additional 68,185 shares during the period. 91.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Caesars Entertainment Stock Down 2.0%

CZR traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.89. 11,218,342 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,842,840. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a PE ratio of -30.31 and a beta of 2.29. Caesars Entertainment has a 1 year low of $21.40 and a 1 year high of $45.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.67.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.39) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. Caesars Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 4.49% and a negative net margin of 1.71%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.56) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Caesars Entertainment will post -0.77 EPS for the current year.

Caesars Entertainment Company Profile

Caesars Entertainment, Inc operates as a gaming and hospitality company. The company owns, leases, or manages domestic properties in 18 states with slot machines, video lottery terminals and e-tables, and hotel rooms, as well as table games, including poker. It also operates and conducts retail and online sports wagering across 31 jurisdictions in North America and operates iGaming in five jurisdictions in North America; sports betting from our retail and online sportsbooks; and other games, such as keno.